North Korea closed its borders on Tuesday to Malaysians who want to leave the country, spurring Malaysia to issue a retaliatory order and drawing hundreds of ordinary people into an increasingly bitter diplomatic battle over the killing of an exiled member of North Korea’s ruling family.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak denounced North Korea’s order as a violation of international law, calling it “an abhorrent act, effectively holding our citizens hostage”. The police have been ordered to stop North Koreans from leaving Malaysia “until we are assured of the safety and security of all Malaysians in North Korea”, Mr. Najib said in a statement.
Unprecedented move
The sudden diplomatic escalation came more than two weeks after Kim Jong-nam, the long-exiled half brother of North Korea’s ruler, was killed in a poison attack at the Kuala Lumpur airport. “I can’t think of anything like this” happening for years, said Lalit Mansingh, a New Delhi-based scholar and long-time top Indian diplomat, said of North Korea’s directive. “This is way out of normal diplomatic practice.”
But North Korea has a long history of surprising the international community.
“It’s the North Korean way of doing things dramatic intimidating gestures and then waiting for the other side to plead for some concessions,” said Leszek Buszynski, a national security scholar at Australian National University who has written extensively on North Korean diplomacy.
Officials in Kuala Lumpur say there are 11 Malaysians currently in North Korea — three working at the embassy, two UN employees and six family members. About 1,000 North Koreans are believed to be in Malaysia, until recently one of the few countries where North Koreans could travel without a visa.
Malaysia’s investigation into Kim Jong-nam’s death has infuriated North Korea, which has dismissed the inquiry as politically motivated and demanded the body be turned over to them immediately. North Korea’s surprise order came on Tuesday morning, when the official Korean Central News Agency said the country was banning Malaysians from leaving “until the safety of the diplomats and citizens of [North Korea] in Malaysia is fully guaranteed through the fair settlement of the case”.
It was not clear, however, what would constitute a “fair settlement”.
North Korea said Malaysia’s diplomats and citizens “may work and live normally” during the temporary exit ban.
